1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire and a method of manufacturing the tire, more particularly to an improvement concerning a bead filler being capable of improving the production efficiency without deteriorating the steering stability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in order to reinforce the bead portions (a) and a lower sidewall portion of a pneumatic tire, especially radial tire, a bead filler (d) made of a great mass of hard rubber is disposed between a turnup portion (b2) and main portion (b1) of the carcass (b) as shown in FIG. 9.
Meanwhile, such a tire is usually manufactured by using a tire building drum, and as shown in FIG. 10 the thick bead filler (d) necessitates a moderate bending action onto the carcass (b) wound around the tire building drum not to deform or crack it. Thus, it is difficult to increase the production efficiency.